Key events
10 min: Gueye wins possession high up the pitch for Everton, feeds Alcaraz. The Argentinian takes a tumble in Liverpool’s area, but there’s nothing doing.
8 min: Szoboszlai and Salah probe down Liverpool’s right, to no avail. Beto is the only Everton player not camped on the edge of their own box.
6 min: With no defender around him, as he goes to trap a pass, Diaz rolls his left ankle and is quite obviously in some pain. The Colombian is going to run it off, but that didn’t look pretty.
4 min: Liverpool settle into their possession rhythm, Everton into a low block, although I’m sure David Moyes wouldn’t call it that.
2 min: O’Brien, not the first Irishman to play right back for Everton in this fixture, gets a little lucky after having his pocket picked by Diaz, who retrieves the ball from the byline and drives into the Everton area before falling in a heap. There are appeals for a Liverpool penalty, but the referee instead awards a corner – the ball went out at the byline. From the resulting set-piece, Konaté heads over from three yards out! The ball was expertly curled right under Pickford’s bar by Mac Allister but the French defender couldn’t quite twist his neck to divert the ball under the crossbar.
Peeeeeeeep!
We’re underway in L4.
You’ll Never Walk Alone is the next anthem to cascade down from the terraces. David Moyes, in his first Merseyside derby at Anfield in 12, years, looks nonplussed.
The players are in the tunnel. Szoboszlai looks like he has grown around three inches of hair over the international break, now dangling down towards his shoulders in an alice band. ‘Allez, Allez, Allez!’ is belted out around Anfield in anticipation of the teams.
Arne Slot, Liverpool’s manager, talks:
We follow the [concussion’] protocol [with Alisson, who got a knock to the head on Brazil duty]. He is not ready but the good news is that we have Caoimhin [Kelleher]. He is perhaps too good to be Ali’s back up, but it’s good that he plays tonight.
Nine games to go but we are taking it one game at a time.
Sides managed by Sean Dyche and David Moyes are always strong on set pieces and so it’s not a shock to see (from Opta) that Everton have scored 41% of their Premier League goals this season from non-penalty set-pieces (13/32), a league-high ratio. Remember, Beto’s opener in the reverse fixture at Goodison Park came from a quickly taken free-kick. By contrast, Liverpool have scored the lowest share of their goals in the competition this season from non-penalty set plays at just 6% (4/69).
This game is one of just six Premier League games going on tonight. Here are the other five, which all kick off in just under 10 minutes:
Bournemouth v Ipswich
Brighton v Aston Villa
Manchester City v Leicester City
Newcastle United v Brentford
Southampton v Crystal Palace
And for the Bluenoses, the last time Everton fans celebrated a winner at Anfield, back in 1999.
Also:
Worth a read, if you are a Red.
In the absence of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez, it looks like Curtis Jones is going to fill in at right back, preferred to Quansah. Alisson does not make the Liverpool squad at all after his injury during Brazil’s game with Colombia. Kelleher comes in.
For Everton, Mykolenko is cleared to play, which is a big plus considering Moyes’ lack of options at left back. Ndiaye is only fit enough for the bench, while McNeil and Calvert-Lewin are both still out.
The teams!
Liverpool: Kelleher, Jones, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson, Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Salah, Szoboszlai, Diaz, Jota.
Subs: Jaros, Endo, Nunez, Chiesa, Gakpo, Elliott, Tsimikas, McConnell, Quansah.
Everton: Pickford, O’Brien, Tarkowski, Branthwaite, Mykolenko, Gueye, Garner, Harrison, Doucoure, Alcaraz, Beto.
Subs: Virginia, Patterson, Keane, Ndiaye, Chermiti, Young, Broja, Coleman, Iroegbunam.
Preamble
A quick glance at the table and another at David Moyes’ record at Anfield – played 21, won none, lost 14 – suggests that this could be a formality for Liverpool, who will restore their 12-point lead at the top of the Premier League with victory tonight.
But anyone who watched the reverse fixture in February, the last ever Merseyside derby at Goodison Park that ended with James Tarkowski’s volley into the roof of Liverpool’s net, knows this is not going to be a straightforward night for tonight’s hosts. Everton have not lost since that February derby and they will be fired up.
It has been 16 days since Liverpool’s last game, the Carabao Cup final defeat to Newcastle, and it’s hard to know if this unusually long break has been a positive or a negative for Arne Slot. Hopefully everyone can at least pipe down a bit about fixture congestion. There are some casualties after the international break though: Slot said Alisson, Conor Bradley and Ryan Gravenberch were fighting to be fit for tonight, but Trent Alexander-Arnold is unavailable due to looking at Rightmove Madrid injury.
Moyes has done a fine job since returning to Everton, with the club all-but-safe from relegation with just nine games remaining, 17 points clear of the relegation places. The Toffees also have injury concerns, particularly with Iliman Ndiaye and Vitalii Mykolenko a doubt.
Kick-off: 8pm BST. Join me!
